Monsters
by firecrackermish
Summary: Clark's worst nightmare has come true. He just wanted to go home. Warnings: Clexy AU
1. Prologue

**Monsters**

Summary: Clark's worst nightmare has come true. He just wanted to go home.

Rating: M for the overall story, but probably T for this chapter

Disclaimer: Smallville and its characters aren't mine. I'm just a poor student playing in someone else's toybox.

Pairings: Clark/Lex (eventually)

* * *

**Prologue**

_There was non among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery._

--The monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

"Don't leave me alone. Please, don't leave me alone again." The boy sobbed, heartbroken, when the men got up to leave the room. "Please!" And the door clanged shut behind them, leaving him in his new room alone.

He wanted them back. He wanted anyone back. He didn't care that they hurt him and scared him. Anything was better than before. It had been an accident. And they had been so angry. He had thought they were going to hurt him but instead they just left. And he had been so alone for so long. He couldn't even tell how many days had passed in solitude.

He hugged his knees to his chest and continued to cry, trying to hide his face in shame because he knew they were looking at him. They were always looking at him. He angled his body away from the mirror. He knew about those tricky two-way mirrors, he had seen them in movies. They thought he was dumb; they talked to him in slow, careful words and watched him with those wary eyes. But they had no reason to fear him; they were the ones inflicting the pain. He just wanted to go home.

He rubbed tears and snot on his white sleeve and tried to think of another way to escape. He couldn't really do anything with the bracelet on and he knew they would never take it off again. They had taken it off once so that they could shoot him and watch with awe as the bullets bounced off. But it had still _hurt_ and in desperation, he had broken through the thick steel chains and pushed a doctor away. His father had always taught him how to control his strength so that he could be normal but he had been so scared! He hadn't wanted to make the doctor go flying. He didn't know how much blood exactly was in a human body but a lot of it had ended up splattered against the wall and leaking on the floor. They didn't have to lock him up. He was never going to use his strength again. Never.

"Clark." The noise scared him. It had been so long since he had heard a voice. He jumped, looking around. But there was no one there except for the white. Just white and white and white and the mirror. He squinted at the mirror and when he looked at it hard enough, he could vaguely see the shadow of two men sitting side by side.

"Clark, what are you doing?" The voice was calm and monotonous. "Clark, what other abilities are you hiding from us?"

"I don't know, I don't know," Clark babbled, "I don't know anything. Please. Please, I want to go home. Why am I here? Why won't you let me go home? I want to go home!"

"You can go home once you answer my questions," the bodiless voice replied. "Clark, what are you?"

They always asked him this. His philosophy teacher had asked the class that question once. What are you? And the answers had ranged from "I am Tom" to "I'm an organic being composed of 70 water". Clark hadn't known the answer then and he sure as hell didn't know it now.

"Are you hungry?" the man said, changing the subject.

"Yes!" Clark had been hungry days ago, it felt like months ago. This was one of the few questions that he knew the answer to. It still didn't change the fact that nobody fed him anything.

"How would you like to meet someone?"

"Ok," Clark immediately replied. He liked to meet people. And he never wanted to be alone again.

The door opened and Clark saw someone being dragged in. The man swore worse than a drunken sailor and Clark stared at him in shock. Swearing was bad! Two of the doctors, whom Clark had mentally named Ugly and Uglier, practically threw him in the room and then quickly shut the door.

"Clark, this is Alexander. You can express your monstrous urges on him if you'd like. He is now yours."

Monstrous urges? What exactly did those men expect him to do? The man on the floor groaned and slowly stood up. Then he practically snarled at Clark, body poised and ready to attack.

"I know you," Clark said in surprise once he got a good look at the other man. "You're dead."


	2. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

Everyone knew about Lex, the delinquent and sex-crazy son of the owner of Luthor Corp. When he was alive, people had surrounded him like bees to honey. He was always seen with women all around him and men trying to talk to him. But when news of his death came, none of those people attended the funeral. The few that came sucked up to his father to give him false condolences and regretful looks.

Clark's father had always taught Clark morals by using the don't-be-Lex way of teaching, as had the parents of many other teenagers in his class. So his father had just used Lex Luthor's death as evidence to why he shouldn't take drugs. "Drugs kill," he said with his head tilted sideways and that look of superiority on his face.

Only they didn't. Because Lex was right here, looking a little thinner but pretty much exactly the same as he did in the newspapers two months before Clark got taken away.

"Hi," Clark said shyly, not knowing what else to do.

Lex ignored him and banged on the mirror. He started explicitly explaining what he'd do to whoever was responsible for keeping him here. He went on to insult their parents and genital size.

"Clark," the voice said completely unaffected by the yelling, "As long as you don't kill him, you can do whatever you want with him."

Lex stopped his shouting and turned to Clark, his eyes wide and wary. "Why did you bring me here? When my father finds out about this, he'll have all these men killed. You'll die too if you lay even one finger on me." He tried to sound threatening but he was shaking and there were beads of sweat on his upper lip.

"I'm not going to do anything. I didn't ask them to bring you here," Clark said, though he was secretly glad they had forced Lex to come here. He immediately felt bad about thinking that. Lex Luthor must have been here since his supposed death. What had they done to him? Clark was pretty sure the other man wouldn't be able to survive bullets and starvation.

Lex's lip trembled and he went to a corner of the room, making sure to always keep an eye on Clark, as if waiting for him to turn into a monster and eat him. He hugged his knees to his chest and glared at the mirror. Lex always looked so cool in the papers and on the news, a complete contrast to the scared man in the corner.

"Are you okay?" What exactly was he supposed to do when the world's most popular bachelor who was _dead_ looked like he was about to cry. "I'm not going to hurt you," he tried, when he got no reaction.

"I'm not stupid. I saw the man that left your room last month. Did you promise not to hurt him too?"

Clark flinched. "W-was he okay?" What would Clark do if that man was dead? How could he live with himself knowing that he was a murderer? His parents would hate him and he could never return to them. He would go to jail!

Lex frowned when he saw the panicked look on Clark's face.

"I didn't mean to hurt him! He scared me and I--"

"Whatever," Lex interrupted, "he deserved it, the sick fuck."

Clark didn't know what to say to that so he stayed quiet. And maybe this was worse than the solitary confinement. He didn't know how Lex was feeling but he was feeling pretty stupid. Lex had to know that he was a freak now. He had tried so hard to hide it from everyone and this was why. This was why his father had told him to never tell Pete or Chloe. Clark tried to stop himself from crying and looked down at his white socks.

"Don't do that," Lex said angrily and Clark whipped around to look at him in shock. What had he done? He had been trying his best to not strike up a conversation just for the sake of talking because Lex didn't look like the kind of person who had much patience for nervousness.

"I-I'm sorry," Clark stuttered. He didn't know what he had done but whatever it was, he was definitely sorry for it.

"Don't be. I mean… Never mind." Lex looked uncomfortable.

"No, no! Tell me what I'm doing wrong! I won't do it again, promise!"

Lex glanced at the mirror and instinctively, Clark looked also. There was still someone there, just silently sitting and watching them. He still couldn't tell what the person looked like and squinting too hard still gave him a headache.

"So what's your name?" Lex wasn't looking at Clark but he was obviously talking to him. Who else would he be asking? The man in the mirror?

Clark looked, but the man behind the mirror didn't move towards the microphone, he continued to sit still and watch.

"I'm Clark," he felt those sharp blue eyes glance at him and then Lex was once again looking away.

"You already know who I am so I guess I don't have to introduce myself. We should get to be a little friendlier since we'll be rooming together for a while. That right?" The last was addressed to the mirror.

There was no answer but Clark knew the man was still there, writing something down on a pad of paper. Both Clark and Lex stared at the mirror waiting for some sort of response but the man behind the mirror stayed quiet.

"I know you're there!" Lex yelled, getting angry again. "You fucking voyeur! Why aren't you answering?"

Clark stayed quiet. He had tried yelling too and had quickly realized that it changed nothing. Lex, obviously, didn't learn so fast. Clark wondered how long it would take for Lex to break, to stop struggling. Lex had already been here for four months, if the assumption that once he had "died" they had brought him immediately here was correct. Clark had stopped struggling after the first week. Lex was trying to break the mirror down with his fists.

"I think you're just going to end up hurting yourself," Clark said softly when he realized that Lex wasn't going to stop any time soon.

Lex snarled and went back to his corner. He sat for twenty minutes and then started prowling the room like a caged animal. He continued for nearly an hour, making Clark dizzy, until the door opened.

Lex threw himself at the man carrying a tray of food but he obviously expected that because the man dropped the tray, sending the paper plates and cups full of food and drinks everywhere, and punched Lex in the face. "Have fun eating that off the floor," he said with an evil grin and left the room with Lex still dazed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Clark rushed up to help Lex.

"I'm fine," Lex said angrily, swatting Clark's hand away. He slowly stood up, cupping his bruised cheek to his face. He looked at the food on the floor and sighed. "Sorry about the food," he said sheepishly.

"It's okay," Clark said quickly, trying to make him feel better. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to eat."

Lex gave Clark a funny look but didn't say anything more. Clark was actually starving but Lex didn't seem to be reaching for the food and Clark had always been taught that eating food that had fallen on the floor was bad. Pete had told him about the five second rule but Clark was pretty sure it had already been there for more than five seconds.

They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes before Clark's curiosity got the best of him. "How did you get here?"

Lex's face contorted into a mask of pure fury. Lex was so high strung, Clark thought. He changed from relaxed to angry and back to relaxed so quickly it made Clark's head spin. "My father forced me to go to Smallville and the next thing I know, I'm attacked in my own penthouse and some people dressed like the fucking mafia pushed me into a helicopter to bring me here."

"I thought you were dead," Clark said. "They said that you died of drug overdose."

"I know, some new guys told me," Lex said with a shrug. "As if I'd be so stupid as to overdose on drugs. I'm not really as bad as the media portrays me, you know."

Clark nodded because he didn't know what else to say. His father had thought Lex was worse than the media showed him to be.

"So, how did you get here?" Lex asked.

"I had a really bad day…" Clark could remember feeling angry and depressed, little had he known, it really was possible for a horrible day to get worse. "I was walking down a bridge, just thinking about stuff when suddenly some people drove up to me and I started feeling really sick. I passed out and I've been here ever since. I don't even know why they took me."

Lex gave Clark a disbelieving look. "They took you because you're special. Wasn't that obvious?"

"But what do they want to do with me? They used to come and take my blood and look at me but they've just left me alone for this entire month. I don't know what they want," Clark said miserably. At this point, he was willing to give them anything for his freedom. He missed his parents and friends so much that he physically felt the ache of the loss.

Lex just got that uncomfortable look on his face. He reached out, as if to pat Clark on the back but changed his mind and dropped his hand back down.

"I hate this place," Clark said miserably.

"It's actually not so bad. I was in a cell before. This place isn't much of a punishment compared to that, it's much cleaner than that rat infested hell-hole. A lot quieter too."

"You were in a prison cell? Alone?"

"Oh, the rest of the freaks are in the main prisons. You must be extra special to get a room to yourself. They moved me here as a punishment when I tried to escape again."

"Other freaks?" Clark couldn't believe that there were more people like him in the world.

"Yeah." Lex looked at him as if he was stupid and Clark felt like shrinking down. "The other freaks like us."

Lex looked at him as if he was a complete moron and Clark blushed. Of course these people wouldn't have taken Lex for no reason. But Lex seemed so normal…

"What… What exactly can you do?" Clark asked cautiously. Sure, Lex's hair never grew back but Clark had always thought that was a publicity stunt and Lex was really shaving it off. "Is it your hair?"

"Thank fucking God my lack of hair isn't the only thing that makes me a freak or I wouldn't have survived living here." Lex didn't say anything after that and Clark was getting really curious.

"I'm really strong," Clark said after a moment. He knew that he wasn't supposed to tell anybody but really, Lex would find out eventually. "You don't have to tell me what you can do if you don't want to. I mean, you probably think I'm really weird. So you don't have to trust me."

"Clark," Lex said, rolling his eyes, "The guy who had gills was a little weird. You're just really strong. Which is perfect because I can heal from everything. Or at least, I've healed from everything that has been tested on me."

Clark imagined Lex tied up and screaming as they hurt him. Clark had been mostly scared his entire stay here and sometimes he had been angry, very angry, but nothing compared to how he felt when he imagined Lex being hurt. "They hurt you?" Clark asked, his voice choked and quiet.

Lex laughed. "Why is that so hard to believe? I'm sure they hurt you too."

Clark looked at Lex straight in the eye and said with more resolution than he had ever felt in his life, "They won't hurt you again. I'll protect you."

Lex glanced at the mirror and gave Clark a half-hearted smile, obviously humouring him. "My own personal saviour."


	3. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

It had been one week since Clark and Lex met and they were getting to know each other better.

"What? You didn't tell me you're indestructible too!"

Clark blushed. "Well, I'm not anything with this bracelet on. It makes me feel really sick." Actually, now that Clark thought about it he wasn't feeling the same nausea he had been feeling during the beginning of his stay. Pretty soon that feeling that he was going to die changed into a stomach ache and a headache and now it had pretty much faded away. And he was able to see through the mirror…

"What else can you do?" Lex said, interrupting his train of thought. And for a second, Lex looked scary and calculating, like he was so curious he'd be willing to open Clark up just to find out what was inside.

Clark glanced at the mirror, and just like he knew he would be, the man behind the mirror was listening intently. And was it just Clark's imagination, or was he able to see him more clearly now?

Lex followed Clark's gaze to the mirror and his gleeful expression disappeared. He glared at the mirror and was quickly depressed again. If they wanted to find a way out of here, and Lex knew that he eventually would, then they needed to find a way to talk to each other without anyone listening.

Luckily, the room was all white so it was obvious to spot the cameras. There was one in every top corner of the room, high enough that even if Lex were five times taller, he wouldn't be able to reach it.

Testing a theory, Lex leaned towards Clark and whispered in his ear as softly as he could. "When the next guy comes in, I want you to try to knock him out so we can escape."

Clark's eyes widened but he nodded. He leaned towards Lex to whisper back. "But I'm not strong with the bracelet on."

"We have the element of surprise. They expect me to do something but nothing from you. It's always just one guy and I think that together, we're able to handle him." They were whispering together like schoolgirls, and Lex felt a little foolish but if his plan worked, they could be closer to escape.

Food was delivered twice a day and while they didn't have any way to check the time, Lex had a feeling it was delivered at the same hour every day. So Lex waited for twelve o'clock to arrive. Sometimes, Lex was sure time was passing slower just because he had been waiting for so long. But suddenly the door opened, and Lex knew it was time.

He gave Clark a meaningful look and Clark hesitantly smiled back. Once the guard was in sight, Clark lunged towards him and knocked the tray of food down. Lex made a run towards the exit but was blocked by two other guards. The guard Clark had knocked down stood up and punched Clark in the gut.

All three of them left without saying a word, leaving Clark panting on the floor.

"Are you okay?" Lex said helping him up.

Clark groaned and clutched at his stomach. It was laughable that exactly a week ago, Lex had been the person in this exact situation; on the floor with spilled food all around him.

Clark looked at the food on the floor and gave Lex an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I know you really wanted to escape."

But instead of looking disappointed, Lex was smiling. "I didn't really think we could get out anyways. I guess I was just getting desperate."

Clark still couldn't help but feel bad. If only he had been stronger and faster… Plus, there had been three men coming in to give them their food this time. If there had been only one, Clark was sure they could have gotten him. It was just his luck, he thought morosely with a sigh.

He tried to be extra nice to Lex that day to cheer him up over their failure but it didn't seem like Lex needed it. He was already in a good mood.

"Clark," Lex leaned in to whisper. "Just how weak are you with the bracelet on?"

Clark blushed, thinking that Lex was making a jab at his inability to make Lex's plan work. "I'm not strong at all," he said frustrated. "I can't do anything!"

"Then why do they have you under such tight security?" Lex was still whispering.

"I don't know… I guess they're scared I'll attack someone again. But I'll never use my powers again. I promise," he whispered back earnestly, trying to show through the sincerity in his voice that Lex had no reason to ever fear him.

"I wonder how you'd react to other mutants…" Lex had that calculating look in his eye again. "Don't you think it'd be interesting to find out if you react to them strangely because they've been changed by the meteors? I don't count as a real meteor mutant because I wasn't really changed. But maybe…"

"Lex," Clark said with a shiver. "You're scaring me…"

Lex's eyes widened, as if he had never really considered that happening. "I'm sorry," he muttered out. "I just think that the scientists would learn more if the were to place you in the general prisons, instead of in this white room alone."

Clark shrugged. "I don't know what they're learning either way."

And Lex let the subject drop.

The next morning, the prison guards came in to take a blood sample. Clark was surprised because they hadn't done that in a while and really, could his blood change that much? Lex, of course, put up a fight. He tried to claw at the doctors eyes before they had to get guards to hold him down and take the blood sample. Clark just dutifully put out his hand and let them do what they wanted. They were going to do it anyways.

"I'll remember you all! And when my father finds out about this, he'll have you all killed," Lex shouted out.

Clark hoped that when Lionel Luthor found out about his son, he'd free Clark too. Lionel Luthor had seemed sincerely saddened by Lex's death and Clark knew that Lionel was very powerful. His own father was going to be very angry when he found out that Clark was gone. Clark wondered how they had covered up his disappearance. Had they told his parents that he had died? Would his parents believe that?

The worst part about being taken hadn't been the intrusive experiments they did on him or the meteor bracelet on his wrist. What he had missed the most were his parents. What he wouldn't give for one of his father's kind advice of his mother's beautiful smile. And he really missed apple pies.

He couldn't think about that anymore as he suddenly felt very sick. Walking towards him with another green bracelet in his hands was a doctor. Clark tried to back away but was stopped by the wall. Why were they adding another bracelet? He couldn't do anything with only one on. He'd die for sure if they added another.

When the doctor got closer, Clark felt his vision go blurry and he sagged down, sliding against the wall.

"What are you doing?" he distantly heard Lex yell. "You're killing him! He'll die!"

Someone pulled the bracelet on, past his cold clammy hands, onto his wrist. He gasped, feeling the world start to spin. He weakly tried to pull the bracelet on but his hands felt clumsy and rubber-like.

"Clark," Lex screamed. "Don't hurt him!"

And the world went dark. Clark heard Lex calling his name over and over again and wanted to tell Lex not to worry, that he was going to be fine but his mouth wasn't working and no words came out.

"Wake up."

Clark was tired and the last thing he wanted to do was get up early to help on the farm. His limbs felt heavy and he immediately tried to go back to sleep.

"Wake up," his mother said insistently.

Clark batted him away and tried to get more sleep.

"C'mon, I don't think it's good to sleep that much. Even though too little sleep can make you gain weight, sleeping too much isn't good for you either. You've been asleep for nearly a week!"

Clark opened up his eyes and saw a pretty blond girl. It took him a while to realize where he was and then he was immediately looking for Lex. It was dark but some light came out from the barred window. There were people quietly whispering, somewhere, someone was crying. There was no sign of Lex and Clark couldn't hear his voice amongst those talking.

"Where am I?" he groaned out weakly.

"You're at Belle Reve. In a prison cell," she said chirpily. "I'm Jodi Melville, by the way."

"Umm, I'm Clark," he said quietly, trying not to move too quickly lest his head explode in pain again. "Where's Lex?" he said immediately.

Her eyes widened. "You were Lex's roommate? Does that mean you were the mutant who killed one of the doctors?"

"It was an accident," Clark said defensively then he remembered when he'd last said that. It had been with Lex. "Where's Lex?" he asked again, feeling like nothing was going to go right unless Lex was there. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach that had nothing to do with the kryptonite when he considered the possibility that Lex was dead.

"I don't know," she said shrugging disinterestedly. "You came here alone and Lex hasn't been put in any of the jail cells with us."

Clark tried to sit up but weakly lay back down when he felt nauseous. "He wasn't taken with me?"

"Why do you care?" she asked curiously.

"Lex is my friend," Clark said hotly. "I don't want him to be hurt."

Jodi looked dubious. "I didn't think a Luthor would have any friends."

"Well he does," Clark said, upset that she would be so mean to him. "And I'm sure he's worried about me too." Clark remembered the panic in Lex's voice when they had last been together.

"You're awfully naïve," she said. "I'm surprised you're not dead."

Clark was confused. "Dead?"

"I guess he wouldn't have told you," Jodi said shrugging. "Lex got his last roommate killed."

Clark gasped. "You're lying! Lex would never do that!"

"Well, I guess it wasn't his fault," she said a little stunned at Clark's vehement defence. "But everyone's talking about how he uses people."

Clark thought about it. Lex hadn't convinced him to do anything that was really dangerous. Lex would never use him. Lex was a good person who was just a victim of the media!

There was uncomfortable silence for several minutes while Clark worried about what was happening with Lex.

"So, why are you here?" Jodi finally asked. "I mean, what are you mutant powers?"

"Oh… I can do stuff," Clark said vaguely, still not used to the idea of telling everyone that he was a freak. His father would be very angry with him for telling Lex as it was.

"Oh," she said uncomfortably. "Well, I can't do anything."

Clark gave her a curious look. Lex had said that everyone they had taken had had some sort of strange power.

"I used to get really hungry but now I don't anymore. That's all," she said with a self conscious shrug. "And I used to be much prettier."

"I think you're pretty," Clark said automatically. His mom had told him to be polite to the girls and it wasn't nice to let a girl think she was ugly. And Clark hadn't been lying. Jodi was really pretty, even though she was a bit on the chubby side.

She blushed. "Well, just for that, I'll try and help you find out what happened to Lex. Since he's like your boyfriend or something."

It was Clark's turn to blush. "He's not my boyfriend!" he said loudly, turning even redder at the thought. "But I would really appreciate it if you help me find him," he amended politely. It wasn't nice to yell at people who were trying to help you.

She smiled at him and Clark tried to smile back and failed. The worry was eating away at his gut, making him feel sick in a way that even kryptonite didn't manage. Where was Lex?


End file.
